Democracy and the Religious Challenge | 5/3-6/6/15 | Beirut

    On occasion of the 10th anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese Journalist Samir Kassir, the Samir Kassir Foundation hosted the Beirut Spring Festival from May 3rd to June 6th. Several discussions will address issues of freedom and democracy.

    Sven Speer, chairman of the Open Religious Policy Forum, will have a discussion with Abbas Halabi from the Muslim-Christian Dialogue Committee (Lebanon), Nabila Hamza from Egalité et Parité (Tunisia) and the member of parliament Farid El-Khazen (Lebanon). LBCI moderator Dalal Mawad will be the host of the evening.

    The issues raised will focus on the question whether and how religion and democracy are compatible in general and in the Arab World especially. Can religious forces be integrated in democracies or are they an – occasionally lethal – threat for democratization processes?

    Here you will find more information about the event: http://samirkassirfoundation.org/en/Samir-Kassir-Foundation/Activities-Projects/The-Beirut-Ideas-Democracy-and-the-religious-challenge

    Dr. Sven Speer is Founding President of the Open Religious Policy Forum (FOR) since 2011. As staff and with presentations and expert report he advises governments, members of parliament, religious congregations, and NGOs on the relation between state and religion - e.g. in Berlin, Jerusalem, Beirut, Cairo, Washington, D.C., Houston, and Salt Lake City. Speer has studied political science and history and has investigated government regulation on religion at the Cluster of Excellence 'Religion and Politics', the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies.